Grbac Follows Montana and Bono to Kansas City

Free-agent quarterback Elvis Grbac of the San Francisco 49ers has agreed on the terms and principle of a contract with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Grbac has not signed a contract with the Chiefs and the details of the agreement have not been released, Chief spokesman Pete Moris said.

The 49ers had no immediate comment.

Grbac, 26, is a four-year veteran who went to San Francisco as an eighth-round draft choice in 1993. He spent all that time backing up Steve Young. He would become the third consecutive quarterback the Chiefs had taken from the 49ers, following Joe Montana and Steve Bono.

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Pro Bowl fullback Larry Centers signed a three-year, $7.5-million contract with the Arizona Cardinals, making him the fifth-highest-paid running back in the NFL. He also received a $1.5-million signing bonus. Centers, 28, who has spent his entire career with the Cardinals, set a league record for running backs with 101 catches in 1995, and had 99 last season. . . . Kicker Chris Boniol, the offensive standout for the Dallas Cowboys last season, accepted a $2.45-million offer from the Philadelphia Eagles. The Cowboys, who have salary-cap problems, failed to match the four-year offer.

Hockey

Gordie Howe, hoping to play hockey in a sixth decade, will try out for the Syracuse Crunch, the American Hockey League team said. Howe, who retired from the NHL in 1980 at the age of 52 after 32 professional seasons, will spend the next two weeks training and hopes to play for the Crunch against the Carolina Monarchs on April 1, the day after his 69th birthday.

Tennis

Second-seeded Martin Damm of the Czech Republic advanced to the semifinals of the Copenhagen Open with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Fredrik Fetterlein, a Danish wild-card entry. Damm next will meet sixth-seeded Carol Kucera of Slovakia, who defeated Guillaume Raoux of France, 6-4, 6-2. . . . Steffi Graf, who has been sidelined for more than a month because of a knee injury, is expected to make her return to the court at the end of April in the German Open, tournament organizers said.

Golf

The second round of the $1.5-million Honda Classic at Coral Springs, Fla., was postponed when morning rains flooded the fairways and a developing storm system put the area under a tornado watch.

Annika Sorenstam shot a four-under-par 68 and late-charging Donna Andrews had a 67 to share the second-round lead in the Welch’s-Circle K Championship, an LPGA event at Tucson. Liselotte Newmann, the defending champion, shot a 73 and dropped into a second-place tie with Julie Piers, Jane Geddes, Joan Pitcock and Alicia Dibos--all at 137.

Miscellany

Michael Johnson, who dominated track and field last year and won two Olympic gold medals, was chosen as winner of the Sullivan Award as the best amateur athlete of 1996. Johnson, a three-time finalist for the award, became the 37th track and field athlete to win it.

Major League Soccer will put teams in Chicago and Miami next season, a year ahead of its announced plans, according to a high league source. The teams would play in Soldier Field, which was used during the 1994 World Cup, and the Orange Bowl.

Police filed charges against a Maori activist who smashed the America’s Cup with a sledgehammer at the boating club in Auckland, New Zealand, where the coveted yachting prize was on display. Benjamin P. Nathan was charged with criminal damage and trespass, which carry a maximum penalty of five years in jail.

Former Australian Open winner Roscoe Tanner was being held in the Somerset County (N.J.) Jail because he is wanted in Tennessee on charges that he bounced a check for more than $10,000.

Kerri Strug, the Olympic gymnast who attends UCLA, is disenchanted with the Florida promoter with whom she signed an exclusive contract for what was to have been a tour extending well into this year. She filed a lawsuit Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Tucson claiming Magic Promotions Inc. owes her more than $850,000 of a guaranteed $1.13 million.

Jeff Green won the pole position for Sunday’s Las Vegas 300 NASCAR Busch Grand National race with a qualifying lap of 159.311 mph. Winston West driver Joe Bean, trying to make his debut in the Busch series, suffered a compound fracture of his left leg in a crash and was listed in good condition after surgery at University Medical Center in Las Vegas.

The Long Beach State baseball team beat UC Santa Barbara, 9-5, to give Coach Dave Snow 500 career victories in 14 years. Snow coached at Loyola Marymount for five seasons and has been at Long Beach State for the last nine.

Memorial services will be held today at 11:30 a.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Los Osos, Calif., for former USC Olympic swimmer Wally Wolf. Wolf, 66, died Wednesday. He swam in the 1948 and 1952 Olympic Games, and was a gold medalist on the 1948 800-meter freestyle relay team.